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April 15, 2005 > News > Economics eliminates 212, changes major requirements

Economics eliminates 212, changes major requirements

By James Sulak | Thresher staff

In conjunction with changes to its major requirements, the economics department has eliminated the introductory macroeconomics course, ECON 212: Principles of Economics II. Under the new requirements, which take effect in the fall, economics majors must instead take ECON 375: Macroeconomic Theory. ECON 375 will probably be made less difficult, Economics Chair Peter

Hartley said.

The department may introduce a 100-level introductory macroeconomics course for non-majors in the future. Hartley said University Professor and former President Malcolm Gillis, who is an member of the economics department, may teach the new course, but he has not yet agreed to do so. During the 2004-‘05 academic year, about 200 students enrolled in seven sections of ECON 212, which counts for Group II distribution credit.

In an e-mail sent to economics and mathematical economic analysis majors April 6, the department also announced other changes to major requirements for the economics degree. The quantitative course requirement, which currently allows students pursuing an economics degree to choose from several different courses — including ACCO 305: Introduction to Accounting — is being dropped in favor of requiring STAT 280: Elementary Applied Statistics or a higher-level statistics class and either ECON 446: Applied Econometrics and Economic Modeling or ECON 400: Econometrics. The economics major will still require a total of 10 courses.

Economics Professor Jim Brown said students will ultimately benefit from the changes.

“In the short run, some students may perceive it as more of a hurdle,” Brown said. “In the long run, it will make it a better program for undergraduates. On balance, I think we will end up with more enrollment.”

Sid Richardson College sophomore Justin Lane, who is majoring in economics, said the increased difficulty of the major is a positive change.

“In general, I think the changes make the major more demanding, which I’m happy I don’t have to [experience],” Lane said. “But I think it’s better for the major because it was too easy before.”

Students matriculating in Fall 2005 must complete the major under the new requirements. Current students who have already taken ECON 212 can still complete the major under the old requirements, while those who have not taken ECON 212 can graduate under the old requirements if they take ECON 212 through the School of Continuing Studies this summer or transfer credit for it from another institution and then pass the departmental qualifying examination.

Hartley said few students majoring in economics will be inconvenienced by the elimination of ECON 212 since most students take it as freshmen or use Advanced Placement credit to skip it.

The changes were made to give students a better statistical background, Hartley said.

“Employers expect [students] to know about economic data and how to use statistical analysis to understand it,” Hartley said.

The changes reflect the importance of statistics in economic research, economics major Ryan Jennings said.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Jennings, a Jones College sophomore, said. “Gathering of statistics plays an important part in economics.”

Three other social science majors — political science, psychology and sociology — have statistics requirements, although only PSYC 339: Statistical Methods-Psychology, is cross-listed in the statistics department.

The department decided to eliminate ECON 212 rather than increase the number of courses required for the major because adding the econometrics requirement by itself would have limited students’ flexibility in completing the major, Hartley said.

Since ECON 446 is a hands-on course with small weekly lab sections, the department needed graduate students available to lead the sections. Had the department not eliminated the lower-level course, its resources would have been strained, since graduate students teach most sections of ECON 212.

Many professors are reluctant to teach ECON 212, Hartley said. ECON 211: Principles of Economics teaches topics more central to economics and draws many more students, Hartley said.

The only change to the mathematical economic analysis degree requirements is that students must now take four electives instead of three, since ECON 212 was eliminated. The mathematical economic analysis degree already requires ECON 375, ECON 400 and STAT 310: Probability and Statistics.

Brown, chair of the Economics Department Undergraduate Committee, said although he did not formally discuss the changes with students before they were adopted, he and other professors drew on years of informal discussions.

The department had been considering these changes since a curriculum review four years ago, Hartley said. The changes were first formally discussed at the March 4 meeting of the undergraduate committee, Brown said. The committee proposed the changes to the economics faculty at its March 16 general meeting. The faculty voted almost unanimously to approve the changes, Hartley said.

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